Things take a wild turn here, and some scenes had me full-on gaping at the page (or well, the Kindle screen). The last time I finished a book series was probably years ago. Not only that, but it had taken me years to get through all the installments.
Here, the team dynamics of the Foxes are changing, but it’s not yet clear whether things will go from better or worse. More sportsball is played, and I found myself hooked on every game and what the physical and emotional outcome would be. Secrets are revealed throughout this book, and I’m more than impressed by how Sakavic uses a made-up sport as an allegory for multiple characters’ involvement in the behind-the-scenes mafia threat.
Neil may be the hero of his own story and a knight or bishop for the leaders of his team, but we are forcibly reminded that he is ultimately still a pawn in the greater scheme of things. Flipping between the tension of winning or losing a game and genuine survival for the main character only enhanced my immersion in this narrative. When Coach Wymack tells the team that they’d found the Foxes another table, Jean beckons him and demands that he give Riko a few moments of his time later throughout the night, by threatening to reveal him as “the Butcher’s son”[3]. Once back, Neil goes to Wymack’s apartment and Wymack calls Andrew, demanding him to come over and explain his actions. Once over Neil, realising he will have to give Andrew information about himself and his past, tells Andrew a half truth, that his father worked for the Moriyamas, who had executed his parents after his father had stolen their profits. Neil had escaped and taken the money with him, which was the only reason he was alive now, and why he knew Kevin and Riko.
This is a teammate of Andrew’s describing Andrew’s Exy finesse:
If there is anything you can take away from this review, it’s that I loved reading these books. But, I’m not saying you should read them, because it’s definitely not for everyone and there are some flaws about some of the content and representation too. But I’m glad I took the risk and at least tried this series out (even during AP season), because I fell head over heels with it. The first book of the series, “The Foxhole Court” sets the stage for the rest of the trilogy. We get introduced to a cast of characters, all of who have their own distinct personalities and arcs, and the fictional sport Exy, which the entire series basically revolves around.
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The novel delves into the twin’s past and their rocky relationship with each other. The novel shifts to the exy fall banquet, where the Palmetto State Foxes and Edgar Allen Ravens, first truly face each other. Neil meets Jean Moreau, a member of Riko’s inner circle, indicated by the number 3 tattooed on his cheek.
I stayed up for FIVE HOURS finishing this because I couldn’t bear to put it down. It’s an incredible conclusion to a series that I think gets better with each book, once again upping the stakes to give us drama, teamwork, and some pretty intense ffx sports. The first time I read that series the “love” story really took me by surprise. I never saw it coming and it took a long time before happening.
Five heart-pounding, character-loving, stay-up-all-night-reading stars. I would like to talk to other people that have read this series so that someone can help me heal. For some reason, when Neil and the character Andrew talk to each other, it can’t be that way.
Kevin and Neil get into a fight, causing Andrew to demand that Neil come to Columbia with their group on Friday, saying that they’ll fix it. That afternoon Wymack tells the team that Edgar Allen’s joined their district and Andrew tells Kevin that they can’t touch him, with Andrew around. Neil doesn’t know how Andrew can possibly stand in the way of a mafia family, but is jealous of Kevin and the protection Andrew is offering him. Neil tells the reader that the reason he won’t run is that even if he lived a little longer by running, he would do so alone. Neil goes with Andrew, Aaron, Nicky and Kevin to Columbia where he discovers the group’s habits for drugs called ‘cracker dust’.
The novel opens with Neil Josten after his high school exy team’s Millport Dingo’s loss, which had put them out of the state championships two games from finals. Coach Hernandez tells him the man is from a university and Neil discovers he his David Wymack, Coach of the Palmetto State Foxes. Neil mentions that the foxes are notorious for being “talented rejects and junkies” from broken homes. Neil tells Wymack he won’t play for him because of Kevin Day, a former national champion who had recently joined the foxes line up that year and who Neil shared a gruesome past with. Neil goes to run but is stopped by the foxes’ goalkeeper, Andrew Minyard, who hits him across the chest with an exy racquet.
Neil spends the beginning of the novel wracked with guilt, not knowing what role he played in Seth’s death and because of this is unwilling to face Allison. Andrew gets a call from an Oakland policeman, Officer Higgins. The team is confused about his relationship with Andrew and are convinced that Andrew is in some form of trouble until Aaron tells the team that Higgins was the one who introduced the two twins.
All For The Game
I think I nearly cried in the middle of AP US History reading a particularly heavy scene that centered around him. Neil also begins to crack his shell bit by bit with every chapter, which was refreshing to see knowing how traumatized he is. I actually laughed out loud at some of the dialogue from not only him but other characters like Andrew’s twin (oh yeah, he has a twin, by the way, which he had no idea either until recently).
The Japanese mafia is also involved, which out of context seems confusing, and it actually does complicate things a lot. Several Exy games are also described in a pretty thorough, play-by-play manner, which really captures all the action that a lacrosse-soccer combination has to offer. I read this trilogy because of how well-regarded it is by one of my favorite authors. I’m very glad I took a chance on it, even if its re-read value doesn’t have the same appeal to me as it does to her.
Rereading with what I knew would come made me see all the little clues that I missed the first time. And in every TV show where there is a tension and attraction between the main characters, the audience is lapping that like a cat would lap a bowl of cream. Because everyone wants something to happen between these two! The novel makes a significant shift to Neil arriving back in South Carolina, choosing to leave out the things Neil experienced during his time at Evermore.